Vortex Users......Bead filter users

[BobinCA]

Just curious,

How often do you guys "flush out" your settlement chambers/vortexes??

Identify by season of year if different, or do you do it the same # of times regardless of season?

If Bead filter user....same question.

Thank you.

Bob

[koiczar]

Bob

Once a week minimum for both. More in the summer as feeding volume/waste level increase.

[Beadmaster]

I use a 2 "sieve filter" (Pondsieve) as prefilters and 2 beadfilters (Beadmaster) as main filtration. Pond is 75 m3
Feeding season (with heated pond 10 month / year); daily flush my drainpipes en dump the collected dirt from the prefilter. Backwash the beadfilter every second / third day.
Off-season ( 2 month fasting at 12 C); flush drains en prefilter every second day and backwash the beadfilter every 5th day or so.
Grtz, Hans

[Birdman]

Hi Bob, nice to see you here. I back wash my vortex on Sat. and backflush my bio falls on Wed. So each get's done once a week.

[B.Scott]

I flush my vortex evey other day or sometimes every day in the summer and once a week in the winter.

B.Scott

[KoiCop]

it might as well still be in your pond; it's not gone from your water column until it's been flushed to drain.

In SoCal, seasonal differentiation is minimal so feed & waste production rates don't vary as much by season as they do in other climes -- even so, frequency of flushing should definately take this factor into account.

Increased accumulation of solids at each individual step of the filtration system determines their frequency of flushing. Therefore, flush your vortex/settlement more than your mechanical, and your mechanical more that your biological.

Personally, I flush the vortex/settlement tank daily, the Ultimas every couple of days, and the J-mat biofiltration tanks quarterly.

When your system is set up properly, flushing is simple and it's painless. If you can do it by flipping a couple of valves and only have to invest a couple of minutes (and can stay dry doing it), well then you're going to do it when and how it needs to be done -- not when and where you find the time.

[RobR]

I use a bead filter solely as mechanical and during the warmer months it gets backwashed once a day. When the weather is cooler, every other day and maybe once every 3 days.

[GazKoi]

Flush and clean the vortex which has Static K1 in daily and always keep the filters as clean as possible.

The quicker you get the waste out the better

[BobinCA]

Quote: Originally Posted by GazKoi Flush and clean the vortex which has Static K1 in daily and always keep the filters as clean as possible. The quicker you get the waste out the better

I have to admit that I am very much surprised by the diligence shown by members of this Board when it comes to "pond/filter maintenance". And....impressed.
If one were to follow manufacturer recommendations re: bead filters, one would expect to have someone backwash maybe once everyother week during the fall/winter and increasing this to once/wk to maybe every 3 days depending upon the feeding schedule/load.... during the spring/summer.
The advice given on this thread, so far, is incredibly valuable to me (as a hobbyist since last October) and hopefully even to the veterans here....as a reminder.....keep those filters as clean as possible!.

I have both bead and vortexes on my system.....and now I know that I should be backwashing/dumping more often than I have been doing.
Thank you to all.

Bob

[GazKoi]

Hi Bob,

If you do up you maintenance you will see the difference not only in you fish but also in you water quality and depending on what you test for you can actually also monitor the difference.